Page 49 of In Scandal with the Duke
“Now you can hold me, James,” she whispered, tugging the cravat from between his teeth.
He released the arms of the chair, hugging her close. His lover kissed him, her tongue gliding sensually into his mouth, stealing James’s breath away. Finally, their kiss ended. Her breath whispered across his mouth as her lashes lifted, and she stared into his eyes. Elizabeth’s gaze was wide and vulnerable.
“You are so damn perfect,” he said gruffly. “So beautiful.”
She smiled, yawned indelicately, leaned forward and buried her face in the curve of his throat. James eased her off his length and stuffed himself back in his trousers. He stood and arranged her so that he lifted her in his arms. She did not lift her head, and given her deep breathing, James suspected she had already fallen asleep. Only a few glanced their way as he walked with her through the crowd, for they already moved on to watching others. With her mask and the dimly lit room, it would be extremely difficult for anyone to recognize Elizabeth. Still, he would not have her a minute longer at Aphrodite.
He exited the club and walked a short distance to his parked carriage. The footman who opened the door dared not look at the lady in James’s arms. He briefly woke her so they could enter without any mishap but tugged her back into his arms once they were inside and seated. He glanced down at her and met her drowsy gaze.
“Sleep,” he said, “Once we are at your aunt’s home—”
“No,” Elizabeth said, smothering another yawn. “Take me to my brother’s home. I was visiting him and had not planned to return home until tomorrow. From his conversation, I gathered he went to an … orgy. I hope I recalled the proper word.”
Bloody hell. From the bright humor in his lover’s gaze, James knew she understood her brother had gone to indulge in a night of licentious excess somewhere. She closed her eyes and, within a few beats, tumbled into sleep. He knocked on the roof of the carriage, and when the coachman attended to him, James directed him to Brandon’s home. Several minutes later, he roused Elizabeth and watched as she deftly slipped inside the townhouse.
James returned to the carriage, instructing the coachman to take him home. Elizabeth was unlike anyone he’d ever known—bold, intelligent, and utterly fearless. Her kisses were always filled with promises of passion, her laughter felt like a necessity, and her presence a constant challenge to his self-control. James was not a man to obsess over anything, especially a lover. For this reason, he felt as if he were tumbling into something he did not understand. He bloody did not like it, and for that reason, the following week, he resolved not to see her until he reasserted control of these maddening feelings.
CHAPTER17
The main sitting area of Aphrodite was buzzing with activity, but James was indifferent from the revelry, lost in thought as he swirled the whisky in his glass. It had been an entire week since he last saw and held Elizabeth in his arms, and James fiercely missed her. It was unnerving.
“If I had not witnessed this myself, I would not have believed it,” Radbourne remarked, his voice tinged with amusement as he nudged James’s boot with his foot. “You are entirely detached from everything around us. Madam Rebecca went out of her way to organize tonight’s Egyptian theme and dances, and you are decidedly unimpressed. Why did you even come?”
A humorless smile quirked James’s mouth. “To gain perspective,” he replied, his gaze fixed on the amber liquid in his glass.
“Oh?” Oliver said, his attention partially diverted from the buxom beauty trying her best to capture his interest. “What do you need perspective on?”
“This unending craving I have for a particular woman,” James confessed, his voice low.
Radbourne straightened up, his casual demeanor shifting to one of keen interest. “Oneparticular woman?” he echoed, clearly surprised. “Is such a thing truly possible?”
“Hmm,” James murmured, taking a long sip of his whisky. “I have deliberately stayed away from her for the last seven days, thinking this feeling will surely pass. Instead, every damn day I must talk myself out of sending her a note to meet me or seek her out.”
“A note?” Radbourne laughed. “How …sweet.”
James, unable to suppress a smirk, grabbed a cushion and tossed it at his still laughing friend.
“Take a woman upstairs to your rooms,” Oliver suggested casually. “See if—”
“I gave up my rooms earlier,” James cut him off, a hint of irritation in his voice.
Radbourne sobered immediately, and Oliver looked at James with astonishment. The atmosphere around them shifted, the earlier mirth cooling into something more contemplative.
James chuckled dryly. “I haven’t taken one of the ladies here in months. Hell, there was a time I was tupping, and I felt so damn empty I just stopped without climaxing. That happened three times before I just lost interest.”
He paused, emptying his glass before setting it down on the table before them. “I still found a measure of amusement coming here, but since … since her, Aphrodite is like a damn afterthought. The only time I feel a measure of excitement is when I think about bringing her here.”
“Ah,” Radbourne murmured, “that lady who teased us with your riding so exquisitely isher.”
James’s usual detachedfaçadecracked slightly, revealing a depth of emotion that he seldom allowed others to see. A man known for his dispassionate dalliances and libertine lifestyle, now it appeared he was caught in the throes of something far deeper and entirely consuming.
It was bloody laughable. It was also an alchemy he might never understand.
“Who is this lady? Do we know her? Never say—” Radbourne’s words broke off sharply, and he with a devilish glint in his eyes, said, “Armstrong. We have not seen you in a couple of weeks. I heard a most interesting tidbit, that you are enamored with one of Madam Rebecca’s girls and you are hoping to set her up as your mistress.”
Surprisingly, a flush mounted on their friend’s cheeks as he dropped his weight onto one of the armchairs.
Radbourne chuckled and continued, “Beatrice, I think her name is, but you fondly call her Bea.”
